Talented Cast Rises to the Challenge of ‘Secret Garden’ Score

Georgeanne Lees, director of the Young Artists Ensemble production of the “The Secret Garden,” opening Friday in Thousand Oaks, is a woman of enduring enthusiasm.

Her 15-year career in the stagecraft known as “family theater” was sparked by her childhood experiences of seeing other kids in exciting roles onstage. All members of her current cast are between 10 and 19.

As for selecting this musical version of the beloved Frances Hodgson Burnett story for her Conejo Valley-based ensemble, she said, “From the moment I first heard the music, I’ve never gotten tired of listening to it. It’s so beautiful and lush.” But, she noted, “we waited until we had the voices to do it, because the score is harmonically very complex.”

The music for the show, which opened on Broadway in 1992, is by Lucy Simon (Carly’s sister), with book and lyrics by Marsha Norman.

Lees and her musical director Paul Fagundes auditioned 84 local youngsters, choosing 21 for the cast.

The result is that “this cast is very focused,” Fagundes said. “They’re the most dedicated cast we’ve ever worked with.”

“This is the most challenging score we’ve done in the five years I’ve been with the Ensemble,” said Fagundes, who is also musical director of Padre Serra Parish in Camarillo and a private vocal coach. He was so impressed with the talent of the cast that he turned down other assignments to devote the past 10 weeks to working with them.

“Each role is something important in the show,” he said. “It’s pretty rigorous for them, and I’m proud to be associated with them.”

The final arbiter will be the audience, of course, beginning Friday night. But it may interest those attending to know something about the kids involved.

Despite their youth, several have already begun their professional music careers. Chris Vasquez, 19, who plays Dickon, studies opera at Moorpark College, but is also leading what he rather shyly admits is a double life. He is also what used to be called a lounge singer, currently appearing at the Macaroni Grill in Westlake.

Rebecca Cornelius (Rose) is a Westlake High freshman, who has also been performing at Universal CityWalk in a vocal ensemble called the Cornelius Sisters. There are three of them, and they really are sisters.

Delaney Gibson (Martha), who attends Santa Clara High School in Oxnard, is making her first CD with a local band.

In the decade or so that Lees has been directing shows with local kids, she has seen many move on--and out of town--to Juilliard, Eastman and NYU music schools. But, evidently, their experience with the Young Artists Ensemble has lasting effects.

“A lot of them come back and become directors and want to work with kids,” Lees said.

Audiences this weekend may get a glimpse of this dynamic in action, as they follow the story of a child whose arrival at a Victorian manor changes the troubled lives of everyone living there.

The lead role of Mary Lennox is played by Chelain Goodman, 13, a freshman at Thousand Oaks High School. (She skipped a grade.) A violinist since age 2, she recently added singing to her artistic kit, first appearing in “Annie” at Civic Arts Plaza in 1995.

A member of a musical family (her mother teaches violin and her sister plays in the orchestra for this production), she has definite ideas about the benefits of theater work. “It helps you be what you’re not,” she said. “You lose all your problems.”

No wonder Georgeanne Lees and her family theater staff remain enthusiastic and committed.

BE THERE

“The Secret Garden” runs Friday through Dec. 20, Fridays and Saturdays at 7:30 p.m., Saturdays and Sundays at 2 p.m. Conejo Valley Adult School Auditorium, 1025 Old Farm Road, Thousand Oaks. $7 ($6 for Saturday matinees). (805) 381-2747.